


for the better

by Alienu



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: (?), :(, Angst, Bittersweet, Character Study, Fish, Gen, Pets, Platonic Relationships, Pre-War, Sadnap - Freeform, Sort Of, friendships, i miss Mars already
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-16
Updated: 2020-11-16
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:27:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,029
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27593435
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alienu/pseuds/Alienu
Summary: Letting Mars go is the right thing to do, and he knows it.It doesn’t make it any easier.He wonders if Dream and George hate him too.
Relationships: TommyInnit & Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF)
Comments: 28
Kudos: 216





	for the better

**Author's Note:**

> WOOO WAR POG (another rushed fic sorry)
> 
> i miss Mars :(

“You have to let Mars go,” Tommy says. He holds Mars in his hands, the bucket sloshing with cool blue water, the tip of a dark fin just barely visible from where he stands on the rocky terrain.

Sapnap sighs, glances at the ocean where he watches the waves lap at the shore, pebbles clattering from the gentle jostling. He wonders, wryly, what happened to them. When had he messed up so badly that his best friends, the people he would fight to the ends of the universe for, wanted to kill him? Wanted to hurt him. Are they even still considered the Dream Team anymore? Bitterness gnaws at his gut. He barely even sees them these days. Dream is always off somewhere, leaving home for weeks at a time and only returning for a short day or two before leaving again. George too, spends too much time away. When was the last time they’d actually sat down and just...talked? And laughed? Too long ago. 

He may as well be alone now. 

The wind blows past, tangy with the smell of ocean salt and warm with the memories of simpler, happier times. Tommy speaks lowly, impatiently—he’s always been an impatient kid, much like him. Sapnap sees a lot of himself in the younger boy, and it makes a ghost of a smile flutter across his face. “Sapnap, you have to.”

“I know,” He says, and his voice trembles and cracks, but he turns and smiles as best as he can, holds his hands out for the bucket. “Let me be the one to do it, at least.”

He thinks it’s funny, how he’s always been known as the pet killer in these lands, and now he’s going to let his fish, the only friend he seems to have in this world, go.

Killing all the pets….it was for attention, really. He wanted his friends to come home, and they had after he’d slaughtered those poor animals, but they’d left soon after. Has it been worth it? Not really. All the hate he got, the way that Niki couldn’t look at him in the eyes anymore, the way that Fundy’s face would twist in disgust before he’d cover it up with impassiveness, the way that Tommy looks at him now, wary and untrusting...it wasn’t worth it. 

Faintly, he wonders if Dream and George hate him now, too.

Tommy hands the bucket to him. The water sloshes over the cool metal at the rough change of hands, and Sapnap peers down into the bucket to see Mars. He’s the same as always, brightly colored, large blinking eyes unaware of the world around him. Sapnap is half tempted to just take him and run, to shove the fish into his ender chest before Tommy can get to him. He might be able to make it, if he uses a few enderpearls. He sighs to himself. 

Letting Mars go is the right thing to do, and he knows it. 

It doesn’t make it any easier.

“Hey buddy,” The fish sloshes around, swimming in tight circles. Sapnap swallows heavily, his throat drying A few feet away, Tommy watches, sharp blue eyes alert for any sign of betrayal, for any twitch of his body that suggests he may run with the fish and break his word. There is none. Sapnap walks forward into the ocean, enough so that the cool waters lap up to his knees, pebbles digging hard into the soles of his shoes. The cold water soaks into his clothes. He breathes in the smell of the ocean, looking out at the vast blueness that will become Mars’ home. “I think this is for the best, yeah?”

He sniffles a little, looks a little longer at the fish that represents so much, that means so much to him. _I love you, Mars._ The words go unsaid. Slowly, he tips the bucket over. 

It’s rather ungraceful, watching Mars fall into the water wriggling and flopping, and if it were any other fish he would’ve laughed. This is Mars, though, so he watches as the fish rights itself, fins pushing against the water, and begins to swim away, disappearing in the murky ocean. Sapnap watches for as long as he can, until he can no longer see the telltale orange stripes through the water, until there is nothing more than the gentle whistles of the wind and the crashing of waves splashing onto rock. “Bye Mars.”

  
Tommy is still there, waiting as he wades onto shore. He looks proud, satisfied yet grim, and offers the ravenette a sympathetic head tilt. “You did good.”

“I know,” he says roughly, setting himself down heavily on a large rock. In the corner of his eye, he sees Tommy shakes his head, moving past him to begin the trek back up the mountain. Sapnap turns slightly, enough so that he can see the blur of red and white in his peripheral vision. “Are you going home?”

“Preparing for war,” Tommy replies. Oh, right. There’s a war tomorrow. He’d nearly forgotten about that. It’s kind of sad, knowing that someone so young has been through so much battle. Tommy shouldn’t have to have been through so much, watching his older brother descend into madness and his best friend be shot by someone they’d called a friend. Sapnap feels bad for the younger boy. He shouldn’t have to worry about such things. 

The blond adds on, softer this time, “maybe we can be allies after all of this is over.”

“Yeah,” he says, looking out to where the clouds roll past the horizon, “maybe.” It’s unlikely, but a nice thing to hope.

“Are you going to stay here?” Tommy asks.

Sapnap nods his head, pulling his knees up to his chest and wrapping his arms around them. He listens to the way pebbles scatter on the ground, inhaling the warm air. “Just for a little,” he murmurs, “see you tomorrow, Tommy.”

“Yeah,” the blond says, and he hears the sound of his shoes crunching on gravel as he leaves. “See you tomorrow, at the war.” He smiles humorlessly to himself.

_The war to end all wars, huh?_

**Author's Note:**

> I was thinking about how Mars doesn't only represent a fish. He's a memory from a time when Sapnap was happier, when his best friends were just that. Best friends. Not his enemies or 'comrades,' they were just guys being dudes. or im just being too figurative
> 
> I love Sapnap angst.
> 
> comment comment comment comment comment


End file.
